Bulls and Bears: Canucks may be rolling, but Grey Cup runneth over

Tom Mayenknecht, Vancouver Sun12.08.2017

Toronto Argonauts offensive lineman Tyler Holmes quenches his thirst with some suds from the Grey Cup after the Argos’ 27-24 win over the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL’s championship game on Nov. 26, 2017 in Ottawa.Ryan Remiorz
/ Vancouver Sun

Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell is carried off the field after kicking the game-winning field goal during the second half of last Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers in Pittsburgh. It was one of the few well-watched games of the weekend.Don Wright
/ Vancouver Sun

It’s been a bullish week sports-wise for the country’s largest media market, with the Toronto Argonauts winning the Grey Cup last Sunday. They stunned the heavily-favoured Calgary Stampeders 27-24 in the snow at Ottawa’s TD Place — the best corporately-named football stadium in North America.

Kudos, by the way, to the host Ottawa Redblacks, last year’s champions, who further cemented their bullish reputation as one of the three best-run franchises in the CFL by doing Lord Grey proud.

The Argos’ unexpected windfall came four days before Toronto FC won the Eastern Conference trophy and earned a ticket to its second consecutive Major League Soccer Cup Final.

That game — to be hosted once again at BMO Field on Saturday, Dec. 9 — is a rematch of last year’s championship won in penalty kicks by Seattle Sounders FC.

To round out the week, the Toronto Maple Leafs have won nine-of-12 to earn a 17-9-1 record — the third-best in the NHL — going into a Hockey Night in Canada showdown Saturday afternoon against the host Vancouver Canucks.

Yet the Bull of the Week is clearly the Canadian institution that is the Grey Cup.

Entertainment-wise, it was an instant classic. Business-wise, it drove a combined average national audience of 4.3 million Canadians to TSN (4.1 million) and RDS (222,000) and peaked at six million viewers in the dying seconds of a remarkable finish. Those were the best TV numbers for the Grey Cup since 2013.

The result was also a big shot in the arm for the Argos, striving under new ownership to rebuild a season ticket base decimated through promotional neglect since their last win in 2012. If last Sunday’s result helps the Boatmen turn around their sagging attendance of the past few seasons, it’s a win for the entire CFL.

Football, NFL-style, did not have as good news as the CFL did from the department of television ratings.

After an American Thanksgiving that was a turkey according to the Nielsen TV numbers — down 19 per cent for the holiday triple-header, with slides of 10 per cent on FOX, 19 per cent on NBC and a whopping 25 per cent on CBS — it wasn’t much better the rest of the way for Week 12.

The FOX and CBS Sunday afternoon games fell nine per cent and eight per cent, respectively, and ESPN’s Monday Night Football unravelled to the tune of a 33 per cent drop from 2016.

Only NBC Sunday Night Football showed an increase this week — an incremental three per cent — and even that needed an exciting finish between two marquee brands (the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers) to get there. The bearish TV ratings are getting as much attention as Carson Wentz and the 10-1 Philadelphia Eagles, and that’s uncomfortable territory for the NFL.

The Sport Market on TSN 1040 rates and debates the bulls and bears of sport business. Join Tom Mayenknecht Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the sport business stories that matter most to fans. Follow Tom Mayenknecht at: Twitter.com/TheSportMarket

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com

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Bulls and Bears: Canucks may be rolling, but Grey Cup runneth over

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